The celebration merger of the EPS and OPS faction was short lived as soon after the merger unexpected problems to pull down the government knocked at the doors of the ruling party AIADMK.
After the demise of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the race to the thrown was between three contenders, however, the incumbent Chief Minister E Palaniswamy managed to grab the seat but the race just did not end here. A few days back the EPS faction led by Palaniswamy and OPS faction led by O Panneerselvam merged together to form a single party of AIADMK sidelining the third contender, TT Dhinakaran, nephew of Sasikala a close acquaintance of Jayalalithaa and marking the beginning of the golden period in the history of Tamil Nadu politics.
Though the happiness did not last long as soon after the merger 19 MLAs supporting the Dhinakaran faction rebelled against the Chief Minister and wrote a letter to the governor declaring no confidence against the CM and demanding for a floor test. The floor test was though tactfully postponed by the governor and meanwhile, the 19 rebel MLAs were confined in a resort in Puducherry.
As per the recent developments, Chief Minister E Palaniswamy had convened for a legislators’ meet on Tuesday. As many as 111 MLAs attended the meeting extending their support to the CM. AIADMK is much relieved after the meeting today as 75 MLAs had attended the last meeting and the party was falling short of a few MLAs to win the floor test and the development is being considered as a boost to the Palaniswamy.
State Fisheries Minister and senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar in his statement to the press said that 111 MLAs had reposed their faith in the Chief Minister during the meeting. He said “the MLAs had “wholeheartedly extended their full cooperation” to the chief minister and a unanimous resolution was adopted reposing faith in his leadership.” He further informed that 9 MLAs from the Dhinakaran faction had held a telephonic conversation with the CM and has extended their support to him and 3 MLAs who are allies of the ruling party had promised their support to Palaniswamy. He also alleged that some of the legislators were forcefully confined in the resort against their wishes.